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See Erick's post on his blog for news.

Hurricane Wilma's second landfall

Hurricane Wilma just made landfall this morning and it must really stink to be a on-air meteorologist. Wilma came ashore as a strong Category 2 and of course the media is complaining about how no one knew that it would be "so bad".

All I want to say is *hrumph*.

WFOR has some pretty decent live coverage.

Hurricane Wilma

One of the weather boards that I frequent is the Eastern Weather Board. What's great about the board is that there is a mix of professional meteorologists and amateur "hobbyists", and folks post very detailed analyses of weather models and such. If someone is "into" the weather, it's a great place to just read and learn.

What has been interesting for me is to watch the "tone" of the board over this hurricane season. I have been part of the board for a couple of years, so I'm accustomed to seeing the "bring on the heavy snowstorm" frenzy and the "bring on the hurricanes" chants. What HAS been different this year -- due to the catastrophic damage of Katrina -- is the more measured response when some continue the "bring on the Cat(egory) 5" ardor. It's great to see posts that remind everyone that a Cat 5 in a shipping lane is all find and dandy, but a Cat 5 making landfall ANYWHERE (including the Yucatan) is not such a good thing.

I wish the media would learn a little from the Eastern Weather Board.

Oh, and one more thing...go check out Cecily's post and wish her a Happy Anniversary. Just don't use the C word. :-)

Regression

I got up a little early this morning because I didn't have a lot of room in bed -- yes, DS made his way into our bed last night. And imagine my surprise when I took a step across my bedroom floor and spotted my daughter spread out across our bedroom (hardwood) floor in her Dora sleeping bag.

I replied to Sharon's comment that DD tried to bite someone at preschool yesterday. We are now over 6 weeks since DD has been in her new pre-K classroom, and the two-year-old-like behavior is still going on. I have already spoken with our pediatrician about this, and have read what seems like every parenting book out there on the subjectss of whining, hitting, biting, and fancifulness. DD's teacher absolutely shares our concern and has been trying a positive approach (rewarding when using words, when playing nicely with friends, etc). But the misbehavior continues. And now we seem to have regressed to sleeping in the sleeping bag in Mom and Dad's room.

I'm frankly not sure what the next step should be. *sigh*

Way too much rain

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for Taunton, near my hometown in Massachusetts. The Whittendon Pond Dam is on the verge of failing, and emergency management officials have evacuated 2,000 people as of last night. News reports state that the 100 year old dam was inspected two year ago and declared in fair condition.

As for here in our "new" home state, the roofers are almost done -- just the carport remaining. And yes, DS did wake up in the middle of the night again, so we do not have a trend for sleeping for 7 hours at a stretch. And I have a community association meeting tonight. *yawn*

Roofs

The roofers have started their work. *wump wump wump*

They have been a little delayed thanks to the rain in the area *wump wump wump* but managed to get about a third of the roof replaced on Friday *wump wump* and another third done yesterday. *wump wump wump* DS ended up with NO NAP due to the noise. *wump wump wump* So he had a late dinner *wump wump wump* and went to bed (with DH's help) in his big boy bed at 9 PM.

He slept until 4:20 AM.

This is the first time in 22 months that he has slept so long without needing "Mommy". Mommy got to SLEEP. What a GREAT concept.

And of course Mommy was so shocked by it all that I got up and posted it here. DH is getting DS back to sleep now.

Call me stumped

Yes, just call me stumped. Pass the Clueless Parent Award this way, please.

For the life of me I cannot figure out what is going on with my daughter. I thought we nipped the transitions issues, and now she is right back to her 2 year-old status, this time for teasing her best friend at preschool. My daughter is just plum MEAN right now. And she is hyper-sensitive about EVERYTHING.

I think I have read through at least a half-dozen parenting books, and I tell you, I think there is a book out there that gives the proverbial "there there" pat on the shoulder to every form of parent. But there are no SOLUTIONS.

The director from preschool offered to meet to talk some more. I told her I didn't know what to talk about because it is so darn frustrating. I don't know what to do at this point. I am seriously considering holding her back from Kindergarten next year, because this sort of stuff is NOT acceptable. (I sound like that Super Nanny lady!)

And on the toddler front, my son is still hitting children. At least he stopped biting, but now he is hitting. And getting him down to go to sleep takes HOURS. DH has been in with him for over 90 minutes now just to get him to go to sleep in his toddler bed.

Madness, I say -- absolute madness.

We now have a shed

Yes, the shed people/installers came today. The ground had dried up enough and our handy-dandy little "flags" held up in spite of A River Runs Through It going on in our backyard.

I had my minivan cleaned today -- as in detailed. Wow, does it look BEAUTIFUL! I took the double stroller out and the two car seats out, and the man worked his miracles! He started on it at 11 am and he finished at 4:15 PM! It really looks beautiful. I was anticipating having to buy new floor mats, which are pretty pricey in a minivan. But it really looks like a new car!

DH stayed home with the kids today as I don't get Columbus Day off as a holiday. The commute in today was SO LOVELY -- 15 minutes from my driveway to the elevator in my parking garage. If that is not an incentive to establish flextime, I don't know what is.

That's about it here -- heading to bed to catch up on some sleep...

Bring on the RAIN!!!!

Thanks to the remnant of Tropical Storm Tammy, the metro Washington DC area is forecast to get a whole lot of rain tomorrow and into the holiday weekend.

Thank goodness! Our new arborvitae need the rain -- they were just replanted by Merrifield Garden Center last Saturday. (In late June, we had Merrifield do a series of plantings and four of the trees were pretty brown at the beginning of September, despite a very regular watering schedule. Merrifield replaced the lot of the arborvitae at no charge.)

Of course our roof is scheduled to be replaced this weekend, too. Well, that isn't happening on schedule, that's for sure. DH just called the roofer to figure out what to do about the many pounds of roofing materials sitting on top of our house right now -- especially with 4+ inches of rain forecast for the area.

Homework

This has been a hectic week. All kinds of goings on at work, plus our community association meeting took lots of time last week, and that was AFTER our annual fall sale at my children's child development center.

I did manage to get some mums planted this weekend as well as some winter pansies in the windowbox. We have been having a running battle with a local trash contractor -- DH reported them to Fairfax County's consumer affairs department thanks to their handy dandy online form. We're now at 27 days without picking up yard debris -- and yet another supervisor "absolutely promised" it would be picked up tomorrow. We'll see -- just don't hold your breath!

We went to "curriculum night" at preschool tonight. The teachers did a great job describing how they are teaching children in the pre-K program. They also answered all of the parents' questions. VERY well done.

The shed installers rescheduled from today until Saturday. The roofers rescheduled from Thursday to Monday (Columbus Day). Sure glad I'm not a general contractor!

That is a quick summary -- I'll fill in more tomorrow!

More on the Yale women

Over at Slate, Jack Shafer compares the New York Times "Yale women" story to a 1980 story on the "career vs. motherhood" issue. The most intriguing part was his anecdotal follow-up to one of the women mentioned in the 1980 article:

One criticism of Story's article is that college students are poor predictors of what sorts of adults become. To test this idea I conducted some purely anecdotal research of my own: I Googled the lead character of the 1980 New York Times story, Mary Anne Citrino. Within minutes, I reached her at her New York City office at the Blackstone Group, an investment and advisory group, where she is a senior managing director.

Citrino laughed at this week's Times story when she read it, recalling her role in the similarly squishy Times story from a generation ago. She says the Times reporter misrepresented what she said, attributing to her sentiments that were "the exact opposite of what I meant."

"I never wanted to be a full-time mother," says Citrino. She says she was considered the most gung-ho career woman among her classmates, never stopped working after finishing school, has three children, and put in 20 years at Morgan Stanley before joining Blackstone a year ago.

"I never even considered giving up my career," Citrino says.

But that's just one anecdote, mind you.

Also...as shown over at Mediabistro, evidently at least one of the students interviewed in the article has a problem about how she was quoted/characterized. There are even more details over at Alas.

MIA

Sorry I haven't been around -- H's visit over the weekend ate all available free time so I couldn't post.

Here's a plug for a great pumpkin patch/fall festival in the DC area over at Cox Farms. We went yesterday and we had the BEST time! Loads of fun!

Yale women, continued...the survey methodology

Came across this over at Gelf Magazine and I just had to share -- everything you wanted to know about (cough cough) "survey methodology" as practiced by some at the New York Times. Quoting from David Goldenberg:

One likely reason that Louise Story came to the conclusion in her front page New York Times article Tuesday that many Ivy League women would rather be stay-at-home moms than part of the workforce: A skewed sample. She arrives at a conclusion about “women at the nation’s most elite colleges” based on spot interviews with students from a few Ivy League schools and then a survey with students at one school: her own. Last school year, Story sent out a 37-question survey to a group of freshman and senior women at Yale University, her (and my) alma mater. While it is indeed possible that 60% of those who replied said “they planned to cut back on work or stop working entirely” when they had kids, as Story writes, it's doubtful that those who replied are representative of all Ivy League women.

So I take back what I said about Yale -- David gets it.

Transitions, continued...

My daughter moved over to the pre-K room right after Labor Day. She has been in the same daycare center (yes, it is a high quality one -- I'm sure some of the Yale women as described by Amber at Prettier Than Napoleon would bash me nonetheless) since she was 6 months old. She has ALWAYS had an easy transition. This one, though, is not going so well.

There is a girl in her pre-K class that she has known since she started at the daycare. (I'll call her B.) B is a little rough around the egdes. An example: my daughter and B were outside on Monday afternoon coloring with markers. Natalie was coloring on her paper, and she went to get up to leave with me, and B "snatched" the paper away from Natalie. Natalie -- at her super-sensitive best -- started bawling. To make a long story short, we managed to get out of there and over to the classroom to pick up my son, and we were all having fun together, and all was great. We made it out to the atrium of the building and my son was fascinated by a sculture in the atrium -- and who walks out to leave? B and her mom. B goes over to Natalie and says, "You'll never see that paper again!" and rips it up in front of her. Natalie bawls again. *sigh*

Well, this has been going on since the transition. Admittedly Natalie is hardly the "golden child" and she can whine with the best of the them. And she can be absolutely supersensitive to boot. Plus we are having all sorts of sleep issues right now -- this from my great napper. So I'm working with the teacher on this. Plus the curriculum director. Plus the center director. It's just REALLY hard.

And a totally unrelated note -- Hurricane Rita is currently a catageory 5 hurricane and has the third lowest pressure of any north Atlantic hurricane. Goodness, I hope ths thing weakens (at least a little) before landfall. And kudos to Max Mayfield for his great testimony before the Senate yesterday.

Required reading...NYT article on Women at Ivy League colleges planning for stay-at-home-mom-hood

I saw this article in this morning's New York Times and it became "the topic" of discussion on several moms lists that I'm on. It's all over the blogs, too. I especially like Ann Bartow's post about the article on Sivacracy.net. I would add to Ann's point that these women will be 30 year-old stay-at-home moms with $145,000 investments in law school that apparently will not have to be paid at all through students loans. So they plan to saddle their husbands with that debt? And this is all assuming that these women can "easily" have children be it through bearing their own child or through adoption. And, once they have their "insta-children recipe" fulfilled, they will have an easy path back to the workforce -- and a part-time one at that -- down the road.

Wow. Makes me glad that I did not go to an Ivy League college. At least I have some sense of the real world.

See RebelDad's post about the same article, too -- a great perspective from a dad.

Lengthen the school day?

Found a link to this report over at Half Changed World -- how to improve public schools, pubished by the Center for American Progress and the Institute for America's Future. I agree with the first recommendation on increasing the length of the school day, and also the school year. I haven't read the rest of the report yet (only skimmed it so far), but at first glance it seems like a great idea on both counts.

Have more to fill in on transitions but that will have to wait until tomorrow...bath time beckons.

The Birthday Party Circuit

Wow, the things they don't tell you in parenting books. They do NOT tell you about birthday parties. And how they come in waves. And sometimes, even in circuits.

This is a VERY hectic time right now. First off -- my daughter's godmother (H) is coming to visit next weekend. H lives in Ireland (after shedding that loser for a husband that she used to have) and has not seen us in just shy of 2 years. She has not even met my son yet. She arrives on Friday. Which means we have to find our guest bedroom as it is overtaken by toys and clothing that we need to sort through for our daycare center's fall sale. Which of course has to be done by next weekend, too.

But this weekend was The Birthday Circuit.

Yes, two children in the 4's class had their birthday parties this weekend. One had it at the National Zoo on Sunday morning. The other had it at a local rec center Sunday afternoon. Then we have our standing swim classes on Saturday mornings. And then of course is getting the laundry done.

I have gotten diddly done in the guest bedroom all weekend.

My saving grace is that this is "only" H, after all. We grew up together. We've seen each other in high school band uniforms. Can't get much worse than that!

Comments on Hewlett and Luce article

Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce's article in the Harvard Business Review (March 2005) elicited several Letters to the Editor now printed in the July/August issue of HBR. (The original Hewlett and Luce article made its way across several blogs, including Fast Company Now, Superfluous Sentiments, and Ripple of Hope.) It was nice to finally see some comments that did not focus solely on part-time work as the End All and Be All Solution.

Wendy Ward, Senior Business Development Manager for British Telecommunications in London, pointed out that most women have a higher load of household jobs to handle while also working their way up a career ladder. She wrote, "How many women have a husband prepared to iron their shirts, pick up their cleaning, manage the nanny, prepare the family dinners, and arrange social functions?" She also noted that age is a significant factor for women -- once you get "off" the ramp and you try to get back "on", women (and men) are less attractive as a potential employee.

Anne Mathias, Senior Vice President and Director of Research at Stanford Washington Research Group in Washington DC, pondered: "Why is it that no one ever asks the following question of women who have left the full-time corporate workforce: 'At the time you decided to leave, did your spouse make more money (or at least have a higher earning potential) than you?'"

Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It, commented that the issue is not that "corporations have adapted to men's needs. That misses the point. Men with children adapt to the corporation so that they can earn enough money to allow their offspring to have a better life than they've had."

Hewlett and Luce respond by stating, "The letters to the editor point to the unequal nature of the domestic burden. In a survey we conducted at the Center for Work-Life Policy in 2002, we examined the domestic division of labor and discovered a 'tilt' factor: Thirty-year-old professional men performed significantly more household chores than did 40-year-olds. This fact is directly linked to relative earning power. By age 40, many wives have experienced an off-ramp and taken a financial hit, and the widening earnings disparity between husbands and wives shifts the domestic division of labor in the wrong direction. Thus, if we want to do something about the unequal burden, we need to create new options on the work front as well as new collaborations on the home front."

Politics...Massachusetts style

Yes, the race for mayor of my hometown continues to get even hotter.

As you might recall from my earlier post, the teams are starting to line up for candidates. All this will mean is that they will split all the "opponents" every which way, and the incumbent will walk away with the prize in the preliminary election (October 4).

Latest news is that Scott Lang, the last of the candidates to toss a hat into the ring, was endorsed by the city's firefighters union. Yes, the classic saga of who supports the police and the fire fighters continues for yet another year/cycle/decade. And the charges go back and forth:

Responding to constant criticism from challenger Scott W. Lang on the city's crime problems, Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. has accused Mr. Lang of running for mayor to ensure that the city's police and fire unions receive their pay raises.

"Mr. Lang, the police union and the fire union are working together to put out wrong and distorted information in the hopes that the public will not understand their true motive -- which is not public safety but unjustifiable compensation for police and fire fighters," wrote Mayor Kalisz in a prepared release. Mayor Kalisz was asked whether laptops in police cruisers are working as they should.

"What is more outrageous is that an attorney in Mr. Lang's private law office represents the New Bedford firefighters in their contract negotiations with the city and now that same union has endorsed Mr. Lang," Mayor Kalisz wrote.

After a while, voters get sick of this crap and just decide to stay home because it doesn't matter who gets elected. Tsk tsk tsk, dear mayoral candidates.

Transitions and behavior

We have survived the first week of transition into pre-K. And it was just that -- survival.

This has been a bit of a hectic week to begin with because it started off with us on vacation for the Labor Day holiday. Then the pre-K teacher (Miss J) was on vacation for two days, so the first "real" day for my daughter to be with her teacher was on Thursday. Work was a bit hectic this week due to a project I was working on, and on Thursday I arrived to pick up the kids with maybe 1 minute to spare.

The director was waiting for me as she had to talk to me about something that happened.

Evidently, my daughter, the very imaginative one, is very fanciful with everyone. She had told the director (who is mom to one of my daughter's pre-K classmates) that something occurred in the classroom, with lots of "ums" thrown in, and that a certain person did something to her (keeping names out of this for this blog), and then when the director asked if it really was that person, my daughter changed the name to another person. So, the director told me about it, because "you never know" if it is really true or if it is the whole imagination thing going on.

I talked to my daughter about it several time on Thursday night -- no pressure, just a few minutes here and a few minutes there, over a few hours, and I tried to get a sense of what she had told the director AND what had happened during the day.

It was a whole new set of people doing a whole new set of things.

So -- I spoke with Miss J Friday morning at drop-off and asked her to talk to the director and then give me a call sometime during the day when she had a few minutes. Miss J called me in the afternoon -- she told me the set of events that happened both yesterday AND today. Yes, a whole new set of people. She also said that the entire CLASS is doing this sort of thing right now -- and it is like the entire CLASS has regressed to the stuff of 2 year olds; i.e. hitting, kicking, etc. Miss J and I had a good conversation about all this (20 minutes or so) and we're going to borrow some books from the library (that we have read before, actually) on feelings and playing with others, etc.

The "lying" part is actually less a problem for me right now because I think that 4 year-olds don't quite get it yet. (And the experts at ParentCenter seem to agree!) The behavior stuff, though, concerns me. We have been working with my son on not kicking, not hitting, etc. -- all the stuff burgeoning 2 year-olds do. So I guess we'll read the books together as a family as they both can benefit.

Ass Miss J said to me yesterday -- if the children won't behave, she can't teach them anything in the classroom. And if parents do not keep up the consistency at home, they won't behave during the day.

School picture day

Tomorrow is school picture day. Yes, the annual event even takes place for infants! Lucky me, I get to somehow get both children up, dressed, fed, faces washed, and in good enough condition to arrive at school WITHOUT a yogurt stain across their new fall outfit -- and do this all by myself. Why? Because DH has a hearing that he must attend early so he has to leave the house at 6:45 am. Lucky me!!!

On a lighter note, my daughter is doing GREAT in her 4's class. She seems so grown up all of a sudden. *sniff sniff* Just wait until next year when she starts Kindergarten -- I'll be a puddle on the floor.

First day of pre-K school

Yes, my daughter's first day in the "4s" is today. The classroom curriculum has more of a pre-K focus. She is SO excited to finally be in the "speckled frogs" room. She picked out a new backpack on Saturday (Cinderella, of course) and happily put that in her cubby this morning.

Over the weekend, plans rapidly switched around. It all started on Friday. There was an in-service day at daycare and DH was to have "children duty" -- but then the House convened for the supplemental funding for FEMA. His boss actually flew in from California -- no one would have predicted that -- so both children were with me at work Friday morning, and then DH picked them up at my office at noon time.

So our plans for the weekend were dramatically altered at the last minute.

I did some online hotel hunting and found a deal at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. So we stayed there Sunday night and came back home yesterday. We all had a great time!

We have been doing our best to follow what's going on with the post-Katrina recovery while not letting the children see things on the news and such. Dave Farber has been posting lots of updates through his Interesting People list.

One great post was by Stephen Poe -- I really liked his two point summary of You Can't Fund Everything and Our Risks are Increasing. My only commentary to his excellent "policy analysis critique" is this -- what concerns me is the lack of planning on how to deal with the disaster that everyone knew would happen since the infrastructure was not in place for anything beyond a Category 4 hurricane.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

I have been a "weather junkie" for years. It's just part of being in my family. During hurricane season, I remember sitting in the living room with my mother, my brother, and my grandmother (when I was about 6 years old) listening to the radio to get the latest "lat/lon pair" from the National Weather Service. I learned my Atlantic Coast geography thanks to Hurricane Gerda, Hurricane Belle, Hurricane David, and a few tropical storms thrown into the mix. Hurricane Gloria taught me some appreciation for what the NWS went through in terms of "hype" about a storm. By the time Gloria reached us, she was a tropical storm, and I saw lots of news coverage about "the weather folks always say it is going to be bad, but it never is". But my mother was a child when the Great '38 hurricane hit New England. She witnessed what happened after Hurricane Carol and Hurricane Hazel hit in rapid succession. Then Hurricane Diane hit the following year. My mother and my father and my grandparents taught my brother and I how we had to respect hurricanes -- in spite of what others might say about "hype".

Then came Hurricane Bob.

Hurricane Bob hit the year that my husband and I got married. We were true newlyweds -- 4 months into our marriage -- and we were doing all our hurricane preparations -- storing water, gathering canned goods, buying candles, etc. Bob hit as a Category 2 storm and we watched as satellite dishes blew up the street. A tree fell down in our backyard and took the electric meter right off our house. We made it through fine, and yes, it was a pain not having power for a week, but we did not have flooding, we still had a house to live in, and we muddled through okay. But many friends were not as lucky. Friends that lived near the bay did have flooding. They did lose the roof of their house and had to gather their belongings quickly to move out of their house for a long while. Bob showed me how all this stuff is "real".

We moved to the DC area in 1994, and Hurricane Bertha paid a visit in 1996. I got to see the DC area's version of "they just hyped the storm" complaining. But I did not get forget what I learned in Bob. When Hurricane Isabel hit the DC area in 2003 as a tropical storm, I saw friends once again suffer major losses thanks to a "just a tropical storm". But people still talked about "all the hype".

Now we see what Hurricane Katrina has destroyed.

I hear about the devastation at work, and it just breaks my heart. Then I come home and, after the kids are in bed, I watch the news coverage and have to kiss my kids another time. My heart goes out to all the families.

I just hope that people -- not only residents, but also elected officials and emergency management personnel and the like -- will learn a little from this and have a healthy respect for the weather. Sure, it costs a lot of money to do mandatory evacuations 48 hours out from a storm. But you can save some lives in the process, too.

I think one of the posters on the Eastern US Weather forum said it best -- this was posted the morning of landfall (Aug 29 2005, 09:14 AM):

I am very sad this morning... deeply moved by the disaster unfolding before our eyes. I have been in two cat 1 hurricanes in my life.... and it take a lot to scare ME with weather...

I cannot imagine what a cat 4 is like... the wobble to the west here which has placed New Orleans right in the western Eye wall is just so unbelievably bad.... the words fail me.

2004 .... 4 canes in 44 days in FL.... now this 3rd massive cane in the gulf....

From this day forward these persons and families.... even those not directly in the path of Katrina... and those families who have relatives in other parts of the country watching this disaster unfold... KNOW that today is one of those life-changing days that we love and also fear. Imagine leaving your home on another seemingly senseless evacuation.... just like the last time... kidding with friends and neighbors and family members that this time again nothing is going to happen but secretly having that fear that it just might... then as we watch the media coverage knowing that this time it's different. This time the place that you call home is in serious trouble... this time the luck isn't going to hold .

And as you come home you find your home smashed wedding albums and family pictures scattered about ... the kitchen destroyed... and your entire life strewn about as if you and your family were insignificant nothing. When you are in a category 3 4 or 5 hurricane EVERY days in your life will be post-Katrina.... post 8/29/05... everyday gets viewed as before and after... everything that happened to these persons and these families lives... from 1776 to now get put into one compartment or mindset... and everything that happens from August 30, 2005 until... well until whenever... is viewed as AFTER Katrina.

Yet the greatest power of humanity is that we know deep down the lives are not insignificant and we make our stand against the forces of nature as we rebuild sometimes a rather seemingly senseless act of the defiance but always in a very human matter.

In general Humans are at the best when things are at their worst... and no place is that more true than in United States of America.

Parents and friends observation at dance class

Saturday was Natalie's last dance class for the summer. I just love the dance center that she goes to -- it's right down the road from my office and it is a non-profit. (Two big positive check marks.) Plus, it's not like some of those "chain" places where they charge $100+ for COSTUMES for 3 and 4 year-olds. The "uniform" at our dance center is a black leotard and pink footless tights. Period.

Her dance class is taught by a woman who is not only a dancer but also a Kindergarten teacher in Fairfax County. We all went to "observation day" -- DH brought the camera and I had Nicholas sitting on my lap. Natalie was BEAUTIFUL! She had the BEST listening ears! One of the pieces they did was listening to the "drum" (music on the boom box) and she did so VERY well! When it came time for them to do the obstacle course -- which was dance a circle around the circle, dance a circle around the second circle, hop over the arrow, and tilt over the triangle -- she was the ONLY ONE to get it right! What a difference between now and when she did this at age 3!

We are starting to swim classes in two weeks and we have already agreed that Natalie wants to go back to dance class in the spring. So I'll sign her up for that once the spring schedule is released.

On an unrelated note, I signed her up for CCD classes at our church. I just learned that the diocese apparently allows you to sign up for CCD classes as a non-parishioner -- at an additional cost, of course. The church that I would sign up at is unfortunately filled for all classes under 2nd grade. Maybe we'll give it a try next year.

Hurricane Katrina and the evacuation of New Orleans

I have been following Hurricane Katrina for several days and actually wondered to myself when the proverbial "they" would start evacuating New Orleans. Yesterday I watched the news conference with the "suggestion" for voluntary evacuations, and I thought to myself -- "Are you folks crazy? You need to get these folks out of Dodge NOW!"

Evidently, Max Mayffield of the National Hurricane Center, took things a little into his own hands and called the governor of Louisiana to give some "straight talk" about getting folks OUT. So...TODAY...there was a mandatory evacuation announced.

And someone had the bright idea to use the Superdome as a shelter. Again...are you folks CRAZY??? When that building folds like a crushed tin can, who is going to be responsible for the hundreds of thousands of casualties/fatalities???

This is truly a lesson in how NOT to prepare for a CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE bearing down on you.

Local politics...Massachusetts style

A little bit of history...

DH and I met back when we were both back "home" in Massachusetts. We are from the same home town, and met on a political campaign (in 1982 -- wow, it WAS a long time ago!) for a mayor's race.

Both of us grew up around political campaigns. My first real exposure to political campaigns was in 1970, where my dad and I stood outside at my elementary school handing out books of matches with the slogan "Danny Hayes for Ward 4 Councilor" printed on them, complete with a picture of Danny Hayes on the front. My dad instilled such a love of community and sense of duty to be an informed voter that I registered to vote ON my 18th birthday!

DH, on the other hand, grew up around politics on the "other side" from my dad. No, not in the ward council race, but in the Mayoral races over time. He was a "Rogers guy"; my dad (and me) were with Markey.

Okay -- all this Mayoral race stuff was in the mid-to-late 70's. So fast forward to 1982. There was a special election for Mayor because Mayor Markey was named a judge, and the "Rogers guys" were scattered supporting a myriad of candidates. DH and I met on one of these "myriad of candidates" campaigns.

What made our home town politics very "different" from other places was the use of negative campaign tactics. I shouldn't even say "use" -- it was practiced as a fine art form! Back in the 70's and 80's, there were outright wars between whomever was occupying the Mayor's office, the folks surrounding the mayor, someone on the local "talk radio show" at the radio station, the editorial page of the local newspaper, and whatever local politician was spending some time either with the threat of going to jail or actually behind bars at the moment.

Okay...now to today.

DH and I received a two page letter in the mail. It was from a dear friend who was heavily involved in local politics when we were, and someone who is indeed a patriarch of my undergraduate university. The letter requested our financial support for a candidate opposing the current mayor of our home town.

DH saw the letterhead and immediately started moaning. "How in the world did we get on THIS blooming list?" he asked. Then he read who signed the letter -- our mutual dear friend. He then muttered something about how he loves our dear friend, and he's going to write him a letter saying that he loves him, but there's no blooming way he would support that candidate, etc., etc. Why would he never support him? Because one of the very key players in the current Mayor's circle of trust is a very high up "Roger's guy".

So, I figured I would go and see if my dear friend's candidate had a web site. Yes indeed, he does. Well, the "slash and burn" politics of the 70's and 80's isn't gone, believe you me. I found this on the web site -- dated August 8, 2005 -- Matt Morrissey's letter to Mayor Frederick Kalisz regarding George Leontire's threats at the Portuguese Feast. I do some Google searches -- and find that a former mayor wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper about the "Portuguese feast incident". And, an article from 2000 discusses how a talk radio show host at the local radio station is involved, too.

Who says that politics is any different some 30-odd years later?

Retirement and College Planning

This afternoon I was fortunate enough to sit in on a great (and FREE!) retirement planning workshop at work. It was a primer on retirement investing -- these are cash vehicles, these are bond vehicles, these are stock vehicles, these are the things you should consider when identifying your own investment mix, etc. Great stuff. The instructor serves as one of the senior financial planner/analyst folks in our place.

I asked the fateful question -- is it better to pay down all your debt (except for the mortgage) and THEN start investing for retirement, or shoud both be done at once? He said that some people have to change their habits in terms of credit card debt (at 18% interest, if not higher) and can't be moving from re-fi to re-fi to cash out and pay off credit cards. For those types of people, they MUST NOT pay down their debt first and then move to investing in their retirement, as they will have little to no money set aside for retirement that way. And as for college planning, parents have to make sure their retirement investments are all in place and at the right mix before they should even consider college funds.

Guess my children will be getting lots of scholarships for school -- or attending the local community college!

No Child Left Behind

The state of Connecticut has filed a lawsuit stating that "No Child Left Behind" is illegal because it is an unfunded mandate, requiring standardized tests that the federal government does not pay for.

I find this lawsuit interesting because it is the first state that has filed a lawsuit, instead of yet another advocacy group (such as the National Education Association) with their own agenda. I also find it interesting because the state of Connecticut has been viewed in the past and "in general" as a state that has quality public education. I wonder if any other states will go this route. I know that several states are considered "hot spots", including right here in Virginia.

Personally, I cannot see what sort of additional gain can possibly be in place here in Virginia since we already have state testing (called the Standards of Learning, or SOL -- what a bad acronym!) in place. Yes, some students are not subject to SOL testing -- but should a student that just arrived in this country be required to take and pass an exam in English in the first place?

The ultimate in cool wagering

From the Guardian:

It seems that not everyone can agree about global warming. Two Russian scientists have laid down a $10,000 wager with a British scientist that the earth will cool (on average) by 2018.

It sure was hot here this weekend. We had planned on going to the pool, but it was so hot yesterday that I could not see how two little ones could possibly be comfortable in such heat. And today, their nap schedules are so thrown off that they are both sleeping now (after 6 PM) -- which means bedtime is going to be -- ahem -- "interesting".

Two more weeks of summer -- it surely flies by fast!

Breastfeeding

I tell you, some people just get fired up about the wildest stuff.

One of the boards that I have been frequenting more recently are the DISboards. We are planning next year's trip to Walt Disney World, and this place is one of the best spots on the Web to do research, compare notes with others, and just learn a whole lot about Walt Disney World and the resorts.

Well, someone posted a question on the Disney for Families board about breastfeeding a 15 month old at the parks. The question was very basic -- but the replies that were elicited are just shocking!

I am really tired of people (WOMEN!) bashing each other for the decisions that we make about our children. It makes me NUTS. No wonder these "Dr. Phil" type shows have such a huge following -- people just want to watch each other in a proverbial car wreck!

Goodbye, Being Daddy

*sniff sniff* Brian is saying goodbye through his blog Being Daddy.

I, too, have struggled a bit with what to post and what to post for privacy reasons. It's not like my children have signed a privacy agreement about what I am posting here. And I know of others that have taken a more extreme view of not sharing any details about their children online. I guess it all revolves around finding the happy balance.

Hot streaks

One of the great things about having XM Radio is the ability to listen to the Red Sox games. Yes, we are big Red Sox fans at our house. I grew up listening to baseball on the radio and my dad taught me how to score baseball games. I am looking forward to teaching both of my children how to score baseball games, too.

Of course it is so much more fun to listen to the game when we are actually up in mid-August and on a hot streak vs. plummeting in a spiral for a wild card spot. I've lost count how many Augusts have been spent that way!

DH is home with the little man today. First off, he got bit by mosquitoes again Monday night and had a serious welt on the side of his face yesterday -- I put some cortisone cream on it in the afternoon as his teacher said he was really scratching at it. I gave him some infant Motrin last night after his bath both for the "itchies" but also since he seemed a little warm to me. By the middle of the night (2 am) he was HOT -- and that was with him stripped down to his diaper. (I get really worried about fevers because of his sister's febrile seizure. I know they are normal and all, but they are just the most frightening thing -- you feel absolutely powerless.) So DH gave him some infant Motrin and we had all managed to get back to sleep by 4:15 am. 3 hours later, the little guy still seemed warm but MUCH cooler than he had been, so DH agreed to stay home with him and gave another dose of infant Motrin at 8 am. I called the pediatrician's office at 9 am and said we would start doing the "alternating Tylenol with Motrin" approach and the doctor is supposed to call me back.

When I talked to DH a few minutes ago, he said that our little guy is very happily playing and is his "goofy self". So maybe the fever broke last night.

Journaling...another Bad Mommy Award

Yes indeed -- Mommy forgot to bring the journal to pre-school this morning. Pass the Bad Mommy Award this way.

The "journal" is a basic composition book that the teacher writes in during the week and then parents (i.e., Mommy) fill in on the weekend with the things we did, the things we thought were fun, ideas we might have or even questions for the teacher. This is hardly the first time I forgot to bring the journal. Just drives me a little batty that I forgot to bring it today.

With Congress out of session, the traffic into DC is almost delightful -- and I got to clean my office today! My desk is actually NEAT! I tossed a ton of stuff, too -- so liberating! Maybe I'll get so inspired I'll do it at home, too.

I have been suggesting to DH that I toss my old dissertation stuff. He won't let me. I could gain a ton of room if I tossed that stuff out.

Civic Associations

Our neighborhood civic association is in the midst of being reborn.

Last year, Fairfax County held a "community dialog" on gang-related activity in the area. There were several recommendations that came out of the community dialog, one of them being the reestablishment of the civic association that used to be around for the neighborhood. Several months ago, there was a "are you interested?" meeting where the organizers were hoping 15 people would show up. Well, 70+ people attended!

There was another "volunteer" meeting on Thursday. We're going to have elections for officers at the end of September, and I am going to help leaflet (and perhaps help design the leaflets) so we can get a good turnout.

On the way to the meeting on Thursday, one of my fellow volunteers saw some gang graffiti painted (? chalked?) on the sidewalk. This was right on the corner by the elementary school. The volunteer took a picture of it and it was sent along to both the District Supervisor and the police.

Read today's Washington Post article about the gang problem and perhaps you'll end up shaking your head just like I am.

The Great Clothing Sorting Exercise

Ah....happy weekend. We are still under a heat advisory here in metro Washington DC -- so what are we going to do today? Spend several hours experiencing The Great Clothing Sorting Exercise.

My daughter is not the easiest to fit because she has no waist and she has long legs. I thought her measurements would be all wacky at her doctor's appointment yesterday but nope -- she's smack dab at the 50% percentile for both height (40 inches) and weight (35.5 pounds). So why on earth is she so hard to fit? *sigh*

So today we are going to go through umpteen numbers of bins and bags of clothes to create the (a) keep them because they still fit or will fit pile, (b) toss them because they are ragged and not good enough to donate/give away pile, and (c) keep them to either give away or sell on eBay pile. I have several people that I want to give things to, and when the child's size/gender/season all match up, it's so much better to give the clothes to someone who can really use them. Plus I know what it is like to have all sorts of cute summer clothes for a little newborn girl only to have a boy born in the winter!

Some other news to share -- my daughter's godmother who lives in Ireland called to let us know that she would be in the States next month. So she is going to spend a weekend with us while she is doing her East Coast whirlwind tour. She hasn't seen Natalie in two years and she has never seen Nicholas, so this should be fun.

Also....shhhh...we are planning a trip to Walt Disney World in the spring. Already booked the resort and everything. We are not going to tell the kids until it's time to go. At least that's the plan!

Time to head off to dance class...

More on transitions...

I did not get a chance to post yesterday as I was recovering from the Bad Mommy Error.

The Bad Mommy Error -- I posted on Wednesday about my daughter's transition to the pre-K classroom. Well, about 6 weeks ago, I spoke with the Director trying to get a rough sense when my daughter would move into pre-K. Her best guess was mid-August, so I have been doing this big build up with my daughter about how she would come back from vacation, spend a week with her "old friends", and then move into the pre-K class. This plan got a bit messed up because the children in pre-K that are moving on to Kindergarten are not leaving "early" (mid-August) as they have in years past. So there is no spot for my daughter to move to.

On Wednesday afternoon, I told my daughter that she would not be moving into pre-K until next month. This resulted in absolute hysterics! We're talking 30 minutes of crying and screaming. It then dragged itself into the night, as she was awakening every 30 minutes/hour with screams of "But I don't belong in the 3s!" and other assorted cries. So yesterday morning was a bit draggy for both my daughter and me, as we had been up so long throughout the night.

Yesterday, I emailed the Director and my daughter's 3s teacher to give them a sense of what Wednesday night was like. The Director called me in the afternoon and said that they will be putting a high priority to my daughter visiting the pre-K classroom a great deal over the next few weeks. They will be able to do this because lots of people are on vacation and such, so they will still be in ratio and all -- they just do not have a permanent slot until a child actually "really" leaves. So we'll only have to muddle through this for the next 3 weeks.

We're off to the pediatrician this morning -- a 4 year old well visit and an ear check for my little guy.

Transitions

My daughter is anxiously awaiting her transition to the pre-K program at pre-school. Now that she is 4, she just doesn't want to be in the "3s" classroom anymore. About a month ago, we were told she would likely transition to pre-K around the middle of August. Well, evidently, the children that are going to move to Kindergarten are still in the pre-K program and no one is leaving before Labor Day (public school Kindergarten starts the day following Labor Day here in Virginia).

So my daughter won't go to pre-K until next month. She is none too happy about this.

On a better note, she went to her dentist today -- no cavities and great teeth! She'll go back in 6 months for another cleaning.

Swim classes and gutsy women

Set the alarm clock for an early wake-up today thanks to Fairfax County's recreation program registration day starting at 5 am. *yawn* By 5:20 am, my children were registered for swim classes -- with my daughter getting the next-to-last spot in the class at the "right" location and the "right" time slot.

And calling all gutsy women...I came across The New Charm School blog today -- some great stuff here. I especially liked Jennifer's post about Harvard University seeing an increase in tenure offers to women in spite of Larry Summers.

Post-trip recovery = PTO

The title for this post is actually a misnomer. It really should say SHOULD REQUIRE PTO (Paid Time Off) but some of us will never learn (waving hand) and suffer the angst of returning from a trip on Sunday and having to go to work the following morning.

We survived the drive from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania with a stop in Langhorne to visit Sesame Place the following morning. On the way down the Merritt Parkway, I phoned our first hotel to see if they had a room available for Saturday night, too. No sirree -- sold out for Saturday night. So I phoned another hotel thanks to our trusty AAA guidebook -- yes indeed, a room available for Friday and Saturday nights. Woohoo! So I booked the new hotel room -- right across the street from Sesame Place.

Traffic wasn't bad until we hit 287 to go to the Tappan Zee Bridge. I never can tell if I'm better off going through the city via the GW Bridge or taking the Tappan Zee. It seems like whichever I take, the other way is better. Oh well. We made it to the hotel at a decent hour.

Saturday morning included an IHOP stop before going to the Park. Both children had fun at the Park -- they seemed to really like the parade, and the water rides were fun and it wasn't too hot. Did run into a sole "sorry excuse for a parent" on one of the rides. Evidently she could not read the signs that said ages 4 and under go in one line and ages 5 to 7 go in another line. When she got to the front of the wrong line, the ride attendant asked how old the child was.

SEFAP: "She's 3"
Attendant: "You are in the wrong line. She has to go in the other line."
SEFAP: "She will go on when the next group of 3 year-olds goes on."
Attendant: "No, you need to wait in the other line."
SEFAP (screaming): "I just waited 5 minutes. I am not going to wait any more."
Attendant: "They have all waited too. You have to get in line like everyone else."
SEFAP (swearing): "Let's go. No (expletive expletive) way we are waiting."

And of course -- what happens? SEFAP finds SEFAP2 who takes the little girl and "plops" her at the front of the ages 4 and under line.

My daughter asks, "What happened to that little girl? Why is she in the front of my line?" So I told her that her parents put her in the front of the line. My daughter says, "But that's not fair -- she is cutting in line."

So, SEFAP's child and my daughter were on the ride at the same time. I couldn't help it -- I said something about not cutting in line, SEFAP used gutter language to call me all sorts of things, I didn't "go there" and instead asked to speak to a supervisor -- and golly gee, SEFAP's child didn't even want to be on the ride in the first place. The supervisor came by, called security, and escorted SEFAP out of the park due to the obscenities that she screamed at me. Security talked to me, too -- just to get my statement and to alert me that she had been escorted from the park but SEFAP2 was not. They asked that if I had any further trouble during the day to let a park staff person know. Never ran into SEFAP2 for the remainder of the day, but it's good to know that security will do something at Sesame Place.

We did the obligatory take out food for dinner -- Macaroni Grill. Then we went to sleep early after such a long day. We checked out on Sunday morning to head home. We did make one stop in Philadelphia first -- at the Please Touch Museum. What a great place! The children really seemed to really have fun in the Supermarket. The Supermarket is laid out just like a "real" grocery store with shopping carts, aisles of food, a stock room (with a time clock and time cards!), and cashier stations with scanners and cash registers. Children were counting their food, weighing items in bin scales, and just having a great time. If you are ever in the Philadelphia area, I highly recommend a stop to this Museum.

We got back home at 5 pm and had all the bags to haul in. Thankfully there was not a lot of laundry as I had done much of it at my parents' house. But there's just a lot of "stuff" to deal with, and it doesn't help when the birthday girl opens all of her toys right in the doorway of her bedroom, then her little brother takes all the bath toys and dumps them into the toilet, just when you are running to the door to get the pizza from the delivery guy.

Oy.

I should have taken PTO today.

The DVD player society

Last week when we were beginning to pack for our trip, my daughter said, "Don't forget -- I want to watch movies on the ride."

Hrumph.

When I was her age, I would often go for long car rides (as in leave at dark in the morning and arrive at dark at night) and I never had "movies". Come to think of it, I never had a car seat, either. I would bring coloring books and lots of crayons and fall asleep sprawled across the back seat of the car (that did not have air conditioning) as my father would drive on the state roads (no real interstates like we have them today). The trip from Massachusetts to New York City would take no less than 9 hours, and that is without traffic.

What are we doing when we have our entertainment system-ready vehicles or portable DVD players with Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. in tow?

Hrumph.

Well, it keeps the Whine-o-matic silenced for a while, I suppose.

One more plug for the blogmaster position

One more plug for the blogmaster position at the trade association that employs me -- the position was even written about in PR Thoughts.

ETA: Corrected the link to the job posting.

Cinderella

Well, we went to see Cinderella today. It was HOT -- as in VERY hot -- and being inside a huge tent didn't help matters. But the performance by Kaleidescope Theatre was WONDERFUL! It started at 11 am and had one 15 minute intermission at Noon, but my daughter was VERY attentive. She even told me she was so impressed with the Fairy Godmother that she wants to dress up like her instead of Cinderella! If you are ever in the Rhode Island/southeastern Massachusetts area, I HIGHLY recommend seeking out one of their performances. Plus the group is just a great cause altogether.

Another neat thing that happened today -- while sitting in our seats at the Melody Tent, Natalie saw that a man in front of us dropped some money on the ground (while sitting in his seat). She picked it up and saw several bills (not sure if she knew they were $20 bills, but she definitely knew they were "bigger than fives"), and she gave them back to him with an "excuse me, sir -- I think you dropped this". She did this without ANY prompting by me. The man thanked her for giving the $60 to him. Several minutes later, the man's wife came back with some food for their daughter. He asked her for a $5 bill as he wanted to "reward honesty". So he gave the $5 to Natalie and let her know that "honesty is always rewarded". I'm so proud of Natalie and very thankful for such a "teachable moment" encounter with such a great family.

After the show, we attempted lunch at Lindsey's in Wareham. Bad, bad, bad idea. The kids were tired (no nap) and hungry but the food there was -- let's just say we should have just kept on going and had a cookout instead. We will not be going back there any time soon.

We picked up pizza (take out) at Fay's later on -- the parking lot is always mobbed there, and the food is "reliable neighborhood restaurant" quality -- which means we go there a lot.

I'm hoping tomorrow is more of a "down day" -- we leave on Friday and I can really use a day to recharge. We'll see what the morning brings!

The birthday girl turns 4

Sorry I have been away for a while...the madness of birthday party planning and readying for a trip really took a toll, especially in terms of posting here.

I ended up taking Friday off from work as the load was too much for me in terms of readying for the birthday parties and managing to pack for our trip. I got our bags packed in 2 hours and picked up the (42) cupcakes at the bakery for the party at pre-school. I also managed to make it over for the re-fi signing, although the re-fi meant that DH could not make it in time for Natalie's party at pre-school. She did not seem to mind too much.

Friday night was busy readying for the Saturday birthday party and for doing more pre-travel angst stuff.

Saturday involved picking up the cake at this incredible bakery and then making a grocery store run for drinks, ice, etc. Also managed to make it to dance class -- and in time! -- and DH managed to pick up the balloons. We got over to the rec center at 1 pm but did not factor two things into thr equation: (1) that it would take close to 30 minutes to lug everything inside, because we were also having to keep an eye on two small children, and (2) that Power Tots would be 30 minutes late to the party due to bad directions thanks to MapQuest. But it all worked out somehow and the party was wonderful! After the lengthy (2 minute!) ride home in the car, both kids were fast asleep when we got hom at 4:40 pm. So I did a mad dash to pull party related stuff out of the minivan and travel bags into the minivan, and both kids slept through the whole thing. We were on the road on the Beltway by 5:50 pm.

We drove on Saturday night and encountered very little traffic. We stopped over for a the night in Norwalk (checked in to the hotel at 12:15 am) and resumed our drive the next morning. We made it to my parents' house at 12:15 pm. All in all, not a bad trip.

Monday was spent with some pool time and a family dinner at the Mattapoisett Chowder House -- good food and good fun. Today was spent at the Whaling Museum and dinner at Davey's Locker. We also managed to get Natalie's birthday photo done at Picture People at the Taunton Galleria.

Tomorrow we are off to the Cape Cod Melody Tent to see a performance of Cinderella. Not so sure how Nicholas will take to a theatre performance, but we'll see how it goes.

Once thing I have noticed coming back here -- it seems like everyone I used to like to hang out with in high school has left the area, and the ones that I purposely avoided in high school have all stayed here. Maybe that's just my perception vs. "reality", but it is something that I have noticed. Of course I have been out of high school for 25 years, too -- maybe I am just old!

More on birthday parties...about goody bags

Oh, how people can debate over the necessity of goody bags.

I had one "people other than family are invited" birthday party when I was growing up. It was when I was 10 years old (1973). One friend from school came to my party. That was it. I thanked Doreen for coming, and wrote her a thank you note for the birthday present she gave me.

Flash forward to today. My daughter is having TWO birthday parties -- one at preschool (cupcakes for her class AND the pre-K class) and then another the following day at the rec center (with gymnastics, cake and ice cream, balloons, and goody bags).

The question of the day -- who started this goody bag tradition? Was it someone who works for the party supply industry? Once you have a bag, then you need stuff to fill it with. And when you fill it with stuff, the LAST thing I want to give is those cheap toys that multiply like rabbits in the house. And the cheap toys are always choking hazards for kids under 3.

And don't get me started on the pinatas...there is no pinata at any birthday party that we're having. At least this year.

3-2-1...liftoff!

It's shuttle launch day!

The preschool class has been very interested in space all summer, but became particularly enthralled once again a couple of weeks ago when the shuttle was scheduled for launch. All of the children are very excited about today's launch. I sent the preschool teachers lots of links about NASA and the shuttle program. One I did not send them is this great one that keeps a day-by-day (I should say hour-by-hour!) log of what is going on. Also, this one about a woman wanting to become an astronaut is featured on Blogger as a Blog of Note -- very cool story!

Picture frames

My life has revolved around picture frames today.

We are going to visit family next week, and we have all our prints back from our photo session with Susan that we did in May. Yesterday, one of my errands was picking up frames for the prints. I huge heaping pile of frames later...I have them ALL DONE. I can't even remember how many prints I put in frames -- something like 30 of them, I think. But they are done. *whew* Took me close to 4 hours to get that done.

Natalie has been asking for a guitar for her birthday. So, while I was erranding yesterday, I went to the local big box store to get the Barbie "Happy Birthday" doll I had planned to get her for her birthday. Since I was there, I went down the aisle to look at musical instruments, hoping that I might find a guitar -- and I FOUND IT! A BARBIE guitar! She's going to be thrilled!

With all the focus on Natalie yesterday, Nicholas was none too pleased with me when I returned from erranding. So my plans to put up the new denim curtains we just bought were nixed. So Nick and I played outside in the backyard for a while.

Natalie had skipped her nap and ended up "crashing" close to 5 pm. Nick and I went back in the house at 7:15 pm for bathtime, but Natalie was still sleeping. She hadn't even had dinner. So Nick had his bath and was in his jammies and settled into bed. Natalie was still sleeping at 8:30 pm! I went to check on her, and asked her if she needed to go potty -- she said no. I changed her into a nightgown and back to sleep she went. She slept until 6 am this morning!

Back to picture frames -- yes, I was getting the prints into the picture frames, and David was downstairs in the playroom with the kids. He ended up putting up our new curtain rods while he was doing laundry! WOOHOO! So now we have our new curtains up in the playroom, all the laundry is done, AND all the prints are in the picture frames!!! Not a bad weekend's worth of work.

Off to the pool as soon as a little boy wakes up from his nap.

Birthday parties

My daughter's birthday party is a week from today. We have invited her pre-school class as well as the pre-school/pre-K class for the 4 year-olds. We invited both classes because so many of her friends have already moved into the 4 year-old class that she started rattling this long list of "friends I want to invite to my birthday party" that is was not fair to only invite 75% of the class. (!)

Of course, the "theme" for the birthday party are the Disney princesses. Yes, we are in the princess stage -- all pink and purple, all the time. We are having the party at our local county recreation center, and we are having Power Tots come so the children can do gymnastics.

And exactly how does one weave together a princess-themed birthday party with gymnastics? Well, Prince and Princess Training, of course! It's not like you can find store-bought invitations for THAT, so we made our own.

Then I made the mistake of Googling to find what others have done for their princess-themed birthday parties. Man, do people go over the top or what?!? Here's one that I found particularly illuminating.

I asked DH about all this because this birthday party stuff is just a wee bit manic if you ask me -- and even HE said, "Weren't we lucky to even get birthday cake with our parents when we were kids?" I just don't get all this stuff. And the "debates" by moms on the parenting boards seemed to be centered around whether children should open birthday presents in front of their friends or not. I'm hardly an expert in this area (thus my Google searches for birthday party ideas), but of all the parties I have been to with my daughter, none of them involved the birthday boy/girl opening presents at the party. Maybe if we had fewer children attending it would make sense, but with 20-odd children there, it just seems headed for disaster.

So, we're going to dance class today and then heading out to finalize the birthday cake, and then going out to get the soon-to-be birthday girl's hair cut. And I have at least a dozen errands to run this weekend, too.

School age child care and waiting lists

You are NOT going to believe this...

I got on the phone at 10 am Monday morning with Fairfax County's SACC as it was the first day to register for 2006-2007 school year -- yes, as in NEXT fall, not this coming fall -- spots. (The fact that it was the first day is not listed anywhere on their web site.) There are 80 spots in SACC at our local elementary school and we are #19 on the wait list for after school care. I called back today to add before school care (in case we need it) and thankfully did manage to get enrolled in that. But who knows about after school care.

On an unrelated note, if you know of someone looking for a job as a blogmaster/"consumer advocacy communications advisor", please let me know. My trade association is advertising such a position and is looking to hire someone very quickly -- as in the next two weeks.

The Disney Vault -- Here comes Cinderella!

Yes, my daughter will be overjoyed!

Disney is doing their "released from the vault" thing and re-releasing Cinderalla this fall (October 4)l. Also to be re-released is Toy Story (September 6).

More on Rick Santorum

Let's see if Santorum apologizes. I doubt he'll care if Kennedy and Kerry demand an apology, but he's got to say something soon. Bostonians are everywhere, you know -- even in Pennsylvania.

If you would like to respond to Senator Santorum, here's a link to Bob Casey's campaign web site.

Rick Santorum

What can I say about Rick Santorum -- he just goes and digs himself even bigger holes each day. Nice way to paint the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Rick. (Bitch PhD said it far better than I can.)

Back from the beach

We just got back from the beach and my first day back at work was yesterday. We had a great time at the beach. We went to the Outer Banks -- specifically, Pine Island, which is halfway between Duck and Corolla on the northern side of the Outer Banks. The weather was glorious and everything really was wonderful. If I could just figure out a way to make a living down there!

The kids had a great time on the beach. They seemed to really like playing in the sand, and we brought upteen numbers of sand toys for them to enjoy. It was worth the "lugging of the toys" to see them playing together and really enjoying themselves.

Here's a picture of the kids enjoying a popsicle yesterday afternoon. Yes, they are sharing a popsicle. Yes, I know about the germs that are shared between them. But this is a popsicle that they shared after they each had their own. And I thought they looked cute together.

This week we are going to a pot luck dinner for our daycare center/preschool. Then two weeks later is my daughter's 4th birthday party. Yes, things are getting busy in the thick of the summer. I would not trade any of this, though.

I'm back

Well -- haven't posted in a while. Life has been hectic at work -- it's our busy season because of a myriad of reasons, and I'll spare you the gory details. Thankfully it has slowed down so I get a chance to breath -- and post, of course!

We managed to get our photo shoot done with a great local photographer. She has an incredible way with children! There's no way we could afford it "all the time", but I have dreamed about getting their pictures done in a "non-studio" way for such a long time, that once owe had the shoot -- and then saw the proofs -- well, it was just worth every single penny! Plus we have great (belated) Mother's Day ands Father's Day gifts to share when we are up in Massachusetts later this summer.

Speaking of Massachusetts -- we did manage to get up north for the Memorial Day weekend. We opted to fly up vs. drive -- expensive but so much easier when traveling with the kids, especially a toddler. I managed to get some steamers but with the low supply -- and now, red tide -- they were pricey. But oh, so yummy.

When we came back, work started to beckon because of preparations for things happening, and I am trying my best to contain work to the work-week. This probably sounds weird, but I can sense when my workaholic tendencies start to kick in. It's almost like an addiction, after a while. (Maybe it really is an addicition -- thus the "aholic" part.) Anyway, I'm striving for more balance. Now if I could get more sleep, that might help, too.

Our neighbors moved -- yes, the one with the almost-5-year-old daughter. DD seemed okay with it, actually. She still asks about her, but hardly as traumatic as I thought it might be. I am feeling pretty good about where we are in tersm of our house, school district, etc. Our neighborhood civic association is in the midst of a "re-emergence". There was an information meeting held on Virgina Primary Day (June 14 -- also Flag Day) to discuss getting the civic association back in gear. Over 100 people attended the meeting! I, of course, volunteered to help. What's in it for me? Well, I want to get to know my neighbors, especially for my children's sake. But I also want to be an example for them, too. My dad was always such a huge example for me in terms of civic/community involvement, and I want to do the same for my children. maybe they will go register to vote on their 18th birthday, too.

So last weekend we went to a puppet show at our local county park. This weekend we are going to see a "children's themed" striing instrument concert at the same park. We are going to meet some neighbors' children, roughly the same age as my two. Should be fun!

The Mommy Wars

Just learned about another book about "Momhood" -- this one is called "The Truth About the Mommy Wars" by Miriam Peskowitz. She has her own blog called Playground Revolution. I have not read her book (yet) but just wanted to share. She's doing a book tour through the metro DC area in May.

Busy busy April...

It's been a busy April and I thought I should post an update.

We had a brief thought about selling our house and moving into another school district in Fairfax County. That was until we saw what some people consider a "bedroom" in a house -- as in a room witha small window in the basement. Just what I wanted for a bedroom -- a cement floor with an area rug on top of it. So, we are staying put for now. Plus I really hate packing.

Celebrated my 42nd birthday last week and today is our 14th wedding anniversary. How time flies. Who would have dreamed we would be where we are with two great children? Just amazing!

Work continues to be very interesting -- I am fortunate to be doing things that I truly enjoy and I have the feeling that what I am doing actually makes a difference. That's pretty important to me, and part of the reason for my dissatisfaction while I was in a stint working for "corporate America". I am feeling pretty good about work right now, though. Now if I could just get my life a little more decluttered.

Oh -- one more thing. I started Weight Watchers at Work at the end of March. So far I am down a total of 12 pounds -- including 3 pounds down since my weigh-in last week. How I lost 3 pounds over "birthday week" is beyond me!

Cherry Blossoms and Growling Tigers

We went to see the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin yesterday. All he wanted to do was RUN!!!



All she wanted to do was throw sticks in the water.



The Little Man is a parrot right now. We were watching The Masters on television yesterday and he saw the golf ball.

"Ball" he said.

I said, "Yes, Nic, that's a golf ball. Watch the golfer hit the golf ball."

He said, "Ball. Golfer."

I said, "That's right. And that golfer's name is Tiger."

He said, "Golfer. Tiger. Grrrrrrrrr."

Accident reports

Some of the things that just go with raising children are bumps and bruises. These sort of things happen all the time, including at our near-work-site child care center. At the Center, parents get a phone call (usually) or they are notified upon pick-up time that "such and so" happened to their child. Then the parent signs an accident report, which already has documented what happened, when it happened, who was supervising the child, what they did, how they will try to keep it from happening again, and it is signed by Center Administration.

Some of these accident reports are very basic -- "Natalie bumped her knee when playing outside, we put ice on it and gave her TLC", etc. But some of these are true fodder for High School Prom Night. As an example, one of the accident reports I saved was for when Natalie walked into a wall while wearing a sheet over her head. (!!!) The corrective action noted was, "Teach Natalie that she needs to be careful when walking around while wearing a sheet over her head as she could walk into something." (LOL!)

Well, another classic (!) was for today -- evidently, while sitting down on the toilet, Natalie was staring at something on the floor, and she fell OFF the toilet and bumped her nose on the floor. When I got the call from the teacher on THIS one, I nearly ended up on the floor myself! HOW she did this is beyond me.

Nicholas to the doctor

Dad brought Nicholas to the doctor yesterday for his ear check and his 15-month shots. Both ears still have fluid in them but they can be that way for about a month (!) even though there is no ear infection. He took his 3 shots well (!) -- so we are all caught up with immunizations. I am dreading what the MMR reaction might be like in a little less than 2 weeks. Hopefully it is nothing like his sister's reaction.

Brother in the hospital

Dad called me on Friday that my brother (only sibling, 14 years my senior) was in the PCU. Evidently he had a heart attack (again!) and my brother complained that he was really full after eating a huge prime rib dinner. Well, he has been released from the hospital after passing all the cardiac tests and he has been ordered to drop some weight. (I think his doctor said something like "What do you have there in front of you?" eying my brother's round belly!)

I think we all could lose some pounds. I am starting Weight Watchers at Work tomorrow. I am a total newbie when it comes to Weight Watchers, but I'll give it a whirl.

James Taylor at the mall

Forgot to mention something about Friday...

We are at a local mall on Friday and I am on a search to find a spot where my Cingular service will actually work (grrrr) -- Natalie hears music over the intercom. The song playing was "Smiling Face" by James Taylor. She immediately shouts, "Mommy, it's James Taylor!" She was almost shocked that she would hear a James Taylor at the mall.

Natalie has literally grown up on James Taylor. When I was 8 months pregnant, Dad-to-be and I joined Dad-to-be's brother and brother's wife at Tanglewood to see James Taylor in concert. (It was the July 3rd concert -- thought there would be too many "booms" on the July 4th date.) We were fortunate enough to get shed seats (vs. me having to waddle across the lawn) and had a magical time. (And listening to Yo Yo Ma accompanying James Taylor on Sweet Baby James was almost heavenly!) We sing lots of James Taylor songs to both of our children, including, most frequently, You Can Close Your Eyes. For those that don't know the lyrics, they are:

Well the sun is surely sinking down
And the moon is slowly rising
So this old world must still be spinning ’round
And I still love you

(chorus)
So close your eyes
You can close your eyes, it’s all right
I don’t know no love songs
And I can’t sing the blues anymore
But I can sing this song
And you can sing this song
When I’m gone

It won’t be long before another day
We gonna have a good time
And no one’s gonna take that time away
You can stay as long as you like

- chorus -

Thus the name of this blog.

Happy Easter

What a week this has been.

Due to Nicholas' ear infection, I took Tuesday off to be home with him. We had such a fun day at home! We colored, and we played with Play Doh, then we made Jello together -- it was a really fun day. I have had so much going on at work, however, that I really "paid" for things on Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday afternoon I was really "losing it", and talked to my boss about taking Friday off. He agreed that it was a good idea. (Have I mentioned how I really have a great boss? Well, I do.) So I took my one "floating holiday" off.

My one concern is that one of the teachers in Nicholas' classroom said he was playing with his ear on Thursday afternoon. I am hoping we do not have another ear infection brewing. But Friday was his last day of antibiotics. I have to make an appointment for an ear check for him -- note to self: call the pediatrician's office on Monday to make the 2 week appointment. Please don't let him have another ear infection!

The weekend forecast is for rain, rain, and more rain. Hopefully the Easter egg hunt is on for the morning. Natalie is really looking forward to it.

Oh -- two fun things we did on Friday. First, Natalie has a new bike. She actually has two new bikes -- I put together a 16" bike for her last weekend, but it is a little big for her, so we went to the store and got her a 14" bike ("My Little Pony" bike) and put the 16" bike in the attic. The weather is pretty drizzly so she spent much of the early evening riding it around the living room. Second fun thing we did -- we went to Build-A-Bear. Natalie brought home her purple ballerina bear named Jasmine and Nicholas brought home his brown puppy with Elmo shirt named Jingles. Both are sleeping with their new friends tonight.

Just finished watching the UNC - Villanova game. UNC pulled it off by one point -- whew!

Another (!) ear infection -- times 2

We had a great weekend -- took the children to see the Easter Bunny, had fun as a family, etc. Nicholas was his goofy self when I brought him to daycare today. Then I got The Call from the Center's director -- she asked me what was wrong with Nicholas? (Like I knew? He HAD been fine.) Well, now he has a 101.3 fever. I called Dad and asked him to pick Nick up. Then I called the pediatrician's office to make a sick appointment. Dad took Nick to see the dr. -- he has ANOTHER ear infection. (Actually BOTH ears are infected.) So now he is on another round of antibiotics -- Zithromax this time instead of amoxicillin.

Maybe I need to think of hiring a nanny for Nicholas. We can't keep taking time off work every few days for ear infections. *sigh*

Easter bunny visit

We visited the Easter bunny for the first time:

15 month "well visit"

I took Nicholas for his 15 month "well visit" this week -- the one that is scheduled for shots. He's 25 lbs 9 oz and 33 inches tall. Since he is getting over an ear infection, I opted to wait on his shots. Dad is going to take him in a couple of weeks to get his shots done. Our pediatrician said that he's a healthy little guy and even his ears look good.

Wow, they really do grow up fast...

Church rant

My husband and I are originally from Massachusetts and we are of the "predominant religious persuasion" of there, too -- Roman Catholic. Both of our children were baptized in Massachusetts with the permission of our parish priest in Virginia.

Well, we (foolishly) attempted to attend Sunday Mass with our two children at our church some time ago. What a disaster! We tried to find a place where one could cry and the other could be calmed down, and the only available space (other than outside the building) was a small 10 foot by 10 foot "library" towards the rear of the church. No seats and way too many distractions.

So I checked into the CCD program for Natalie -- they have a pre-school program. I thought that might be good for her and I could bring Nicholas to church solo. The CCD director was very nice. However, the CCD program runs "against" the Mass schedule. There are Masses at 9 am, 10:30 am and 12 Noon. CCD runs from 9:15 to 10:15 am or from 10:45 to 11:45 am. So attending Mass as a family would mean Nicholas would have to be at church either from 9:15 am until 11:30 am or from 10:45 am until 1pm. (!!!) I don't think so.

So we have been attending another Catholic church in the next town over -- they have a Catholic School like our parish does, lots of young children at Mass, great setup so young families can be at Mass and not disturb the entire congregation, etc. I thought it would be great if we switched parishes so we could get involved with that Church. (I used to sing in the choir at our church in Massachusetts and I really miss it.) In Massachusetts, people picked which parish they wanted to join and they signed up at the church office.

Well, that's not how things are done in northern Virginia.

I asked the Archdiocese's office. I asked at our parish. I asked at the "family friendly" parish in the next town over. No, no, no. You are "assigned" to a parish strictly based on the physical location of your house.

I am not happy about this.

If anyone knows of a way to pick your own parish so I can be active in a Catholic Church again and attend Mass with my family in a child-friendly way, please let me know. Thanks!

More mommy reading

About 3 months ago I placed a book order on Amazon.com for some "discipline" books that were recommended to me --

• Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years

• Positive Discipline A-Z, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition: From Toddlers to Teens, 1001 Solutions to Everyday Parenting Problems

• Positive Discipline for Preschoolers, Revised 2nd Edition : For Their Early Years - Raising Children Who Are Responsible, Respectful, andResourceful

Well, for one reason or another, I just started getting into them today. No, I haven't finished reading all of them, but I started skimming through them and hope to have finished reading them this month.

So far I am most intrigued by Positive Discipline A-Z. We were part of the 1-2-3 Magic fan base, but when your 2.5 year-old starts counting out your 3 month old (!!!), you start to wonder if you might need to consider other alternatives. So far, I like the emphasis the authors place on less talking and more actions (similar to 1-2-3 Magic) and I like how they suggest changing questions into the "What" and "How" form. I also like how the authors suggest using the "I noticed" approach when it comes to things that are not done. For example, instead of asking "Did you clean up your room?" when you KNOW with all certainty that the child did not clean up their room and so your question is pretty much a "trap" -- you say, "I noticed that you did not clean up your room. " Then you use an explanation (depending upon what you have for choices) and help the child through choices. If you don't care that there are dirty clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper and that your child could wear dirty clothes again, then you allow that as a choice. If this just won't work for you, then do not offer it as a choice.

Anyway, they look to be interesting reads, and I am looking forward to trying some of the "less words and more actions" approaches this week. The nagging around here (especially by DH) is really wearing to me -- and I cannot imagine how much it is causing Natalie to just tune things out after a while.

Oh, Nicholas is feeling MUCH better. The Amoxicillin appears to be helping a great deal and he only has a hint of a runny nose. And no fever today, either. Hopefully we can keep a streak running. Of course now I have a vold -- and sinus headaches to go with it -- so I'm hoping I do not give something back to Nick or Natalie.

The Bug turns into an ear infection

Dad took Nicholas to the doctor yesterday morning -- he has a "raging" ear infection in his left ear. So now he is on amoxicillin and -- of course -- is home today with Dad. The pediatrician said that the antibiotic would clear whatever is in him out so hopefully he'll be feeling better soon. My poor little man. :(

The bug -- phase II

Nicholas spent two days at home with Dad -- he had a pretty miserable cold and a constantly runny nose. No need to bring him to daycare and expose everyone else to it, right? Well, I brought him to daycare yesterday because he was feeling better and his runny nose had greatly subsided. Of course at close to 4 PM I got The Call -- Nick had a 102 degree fever. *sigh* So I called Dad at his office and left a message -- "Tell him he needs to pick up his son because he has a 102 degree fever." I just could not pull it off yesterday. So Dad is staying home with Nick today.

I had just ranted to the daycare center director LAST week that I was close to thinking about hiring a nanny due to the illnesses (since Natalie was out for just about all week) and now Nicholas is going through his round. It was the director who called to give me the news about Nicholas, too. And of course -- there was another child in Nicholas' room that was sick over the weekend, had been out for two days, yesterday was her first day back, and she got sent home with a 103 degree fever. Doesn't make it any easier, but I suppose commiseration is the only thing the daycare staff can offer.

On top of all this -- I have been weaning Nicholas from his lunch time feeding since last Thursday. With all this buggy stuff going on with him, it just adds to my guilt that "maybe I weaned him from lunch feedings too early", etc., etc. I know in my head that it has nothing to do with it, but Head doesn't talk to Heart too well.

Next Wednesday is his 15 month dt's visit. He's slated to have his vaccinations, including the MMR. I think I'm going to ask the dr. if we can skip the shots for now until he has a good stint of feeling welll. Natalie can such a horrible reaction to the MMR that I really want to avoid that if I can.

Sure wish I could stay home with Nick today instead of Dad, but this is just such a tough time at work right now. His tough week at work is next week, so we'll have to trade off sick time next week if it comes to that. I sure hope it doesn't.

Post-haircut

Here's my little man at breakfast this morning:



In the never-ending battle for wellmess, it seems like he has a little bit of a cold today. I guess all my admonitions to Natalie about "covering her cough" have worked, though, because Nicholas is covering his coughs, too. Although he thinks it's funny and he "fakes" coughs so he can put his hand over his mouth.

And more about the haircut -- we were at a "real barber" in Alexandria, and Nicholas was in the "race car" getting his haircut when General Barry McCaffrey was getting his haircut in the chair next to him.

The haircut

Yes, The Haircut happened today.

It's not like it should have been such a Big Deal today. Nicholas has had his haircut before -- specifically went we went to see The Mouse back in December. But something was just different today. Maybe it's because he is walking now and is more like a "little man". Maybe it's because he is just so much more animated now in his personality -- the fun and confident almost 15 month old little guy that he is. Or maybe it's because he needs me a little less these days. Whatever it is -- seeing him get his hair cut today at the barber was a Big Deal today. At least it was for me.